What’s with all this dancing stuff, anyway?

Tuesday, September 11, 2012/Number of views (5027)/Comments (0)

Rate this article:

No rating

Asking people to dance, and to film themselves doing it, and to put that film into the public domain has resulted in enthusiasm for some and, shall we say, queasiness and paralytic fear in others. This begs the questions, why should we dance? What’s the purpose?

1) By visually adding yourself to this site, we form a force, a teal army, to shout to the world. This shouting can be very important. I can envision a moment where Congress is considering funding an awareness campaign or research. We can talk to the decision makers and not just quote numbers of people impacted by ovarian cancer, but we can actually point to them. Point to them, full of life, and say “this is what ovarian cancer takes from us year after year — mothers, daughters, wives, sisters, friends….. It takes that doctor, your neighbor, that nice lady at the dry cleaners. It takes them in a grip of pain and sadness. It tears them out of our community and leaves holes that never get repaired. We all lose together.” What better example of how much life is at stake then a film of someone dancing — an ultimate expression of living.

2) You can create something that you will cherish. Grab the people you love, throw a rose between your teeth, look them in the eye and create something wonderful, something that will make you smile every time you see it. I already love the videos that Kyle and I have posted. I think that I look silly, but I loved that moment on the beach and the video captures the joyousness of those perfect beach moments that the Corona commercials try to depict. Kyle’s family is celebrating togetherness on Christmas morning. These are precious things, and we never know what will happen, so it is important to capture those special days. CancerDancer video saves those memories in a particularly jubilant way.

3) It’s fun. We haven’t filmed a video yet that did not end up in gales of laughter. Sometimes that is assisted by a pitcher of strawberry daiquiris, but there’s nothing wrong with that.

4) For survivors, this affirms that we are indeed, alive. Alive and kicking right now, despite what this lousy disease is trying to take from us. We have tough battles to fight, but while you are dancing, you are winning. Not today, Cancer, not today. We owe it to the women that have not survived to embrace this life, to live fully, because we can.

5) For friends, loved ones, caregivers — let off some steam. You have a tough, stressful, painful job looking after us cancer-fighters. And we all know that shaking your groove thing is a stressbuster, so do yourself a favor and release some of that anxiety with a good shimmy. Also, dancing will mean a lot to those of us fighting the disease, we can pull up CancerDancer and see all the support and love that you folks give us day in and day out.

6) On a more practical note, the dance videos will make CancerDancer a fun site to visit. When people visit they will learn about ovarian cancer and its warning signs. We can spread awareness and hopefully save some lives. Further, videos mean traffic, and traffic can mean sponsors. Sponsors will allow us to get our message out to more people and look toward funding research as well.

There are more reasons too, but I hope that you can see that it is the very act of living that binds us together. It is what we are fighting for, and we need to show it so that people can understand what is at stake.

I cannot wait to see what you post for your videos and the stories that will come with their creation.